DiScOvErInG HiStOrY C. Artists of the Renaissance 1. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
The early life of Leonardo Leonardo was born in the town of Vinci near Florence in 1452. Even as a young boy he showed great ability at painting and drawing. When he was fourteen he was sent to be an apprentice to an artist named Andrea Verrocchio in Florence.
Verrocchio was working on a painting
called The Baptism of Fig 5.2 Leonardo da Vinci
Christ and asked Leonardo to paint an angel in the corner of the picture. Leonardo’s angel was so beautiful that Verrocchio decided that his student was better at painting than he was. Verrocchio decided to quit painting and from then on he worked only as a sculptor.
Fig 5.3 The Baptism of Christ by Verrocchio (1475).
Leonardo as an inventor Leonardo was brilliant at many different activities,
including inventing. He
recorded ideas in his notebook, drawing buildings, flowers, parts of the body and sketches of inventions. His sketches of inventions such as large catapults, cannons and tanks were for use in war. However he also had ideas about submarines, bicycle chains, parachutes and aeroplanes – hundreds of years before anyone else managed to create any of these things! In 1482 Leonardo left Florence and asked the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, work for him.